dinsdag 17 augustus 2010

One week in advance I had finished the program with some wonderful locations. The same time I was eagerly trying to find the location of HH3 hospital for future visits. And when I finally found it I also found stories about a planned demolition. During coffee break at work I took the decision to change our plans for the upcoming weekend. I constructed within 15 minutes a new plan consisting of screenshots from several locations in the HH3 area. So on Saturday we left early and arrived before eight. With a clue from Frits V. (many thanks again) we found a entrance very quickly. We spend little over 4 hours there. But with the demolition ahead several other people came in. I even exchanged addresses with a group of Germans. The next location was "Atelier Decor" (a gypsum atelier for garden decorations) Not big but rich in wonderful details. When we left one other guy came in and I shouted "Have you finally arrived. What took you so long?". He clearly misunderstood my humor and ran away. Not so funny! I called him and the I discovered it was one of the Germans from this morning. Finally we visited Hogemeyer Castle. It was sad to see it slowly falling apart. A renovation started some years ago but the ran out of money soon. The left everything on the spot. A pot of jam said best before 2006 so that gave us a clue what year it might have been. The most impressive part was the chapel. We ended this fantastic urbexpedition in a cafeteria e few blocks from my home.

It is about 3 weeks ago that we were going out for some urban photography.We planed for this day 6 locations and nice locations.The only problem was that we hat information but we did dent know exact if all the location still in a condition to photograph and whether they were easy to reach, or enter the buildings will be a big problem.Almost the hole group did a lot off research,And could found the real information what we needed.The first location we arrived,It was a massive building and in my eyes mega big,But than the first problem starts there was standing a 2.5 meters high wall around this building,so that was the first problem second problem it was in the middle of a residential on Saturday morning and a lot off people on the street,So we decided to visit the backside of the building.Than we hat the third problem a railway track.Two man off our group take the risk to walk over the railway an looked for a hole in the wall.It was possible from the railway out to get inside,but get out again over a 2.5 meters high wall was to risky,We decided than for not enter the building.Than up to the next locations we had a few,so the first disappointment was fast away till we get to the next location only problems again that was almost with the rest of all locations that day.Only one location we thought we where lucky butt by that place there where still people working because they where demolish the building.That was going on till 2 a clock in the afternoon and then we decide to go in,but here was not much left off that building.We were very disappointed.Picture off the last location is coming soon as possible.ps the title is a typical Dutch proverb

dinsdag 13 juli 2010

This summer we spend our holidays is the south of Belgium, close to Virton. On our way south we stopped at Martelange, not only for the cheap petrol but for the "Ardosiere de Martelange" a slate mine. There is still some equipment left from long forgotten times. A few days later me and my wife headed for Terre rouge and the powerplant next to it in Luxemburg. That was the moment I tried to infect her with the Urbex-virus. I don't know anything about incubation periods but I guess I didn't succeed. The best photo location was very close so I went there 4 times. It was the famous car cemetery in Chatillon. There are hundreds of old cars rusting away in a small forest. The youngest cars are from the beginning of the seventies. But most of them are much older. A true heaven fot Uxbex photographers.

dinsdag 15 juni 2010

Today we are heading for Charleroi. It is raining cats and dogs on our way to the first location; the Crypt in Namur. Perfect weather for a cemetery but the crypt was closed and no one to ask if it could be opened. The next location we were lucky. It was still raining but we could park the car next to the hall in Roux. Here they left many locomotives untouched for years. One kilometer to the south we found a mine were we spend half an hour or so. Then we drove to the highlight of the day. Old mine buildings with lots of old cars. But as we arrived it was a airsoft heaven so no use to climb the gate. Close by is a factory to be checked out. We parked in the forest nearby and headed for it. We stumbled on a old water tower. But no factory insight. I started to worry if we could find our way back to the car when we suddenly saw something red in the shrubbery. It was our car! It almost seems like we ran out of luck today. So we decided to go home with a small detour of course. First we went to the church in Ombret, or what's left of it. Impressive to see a church without a roof. A local told us it was damaged during the war. Our last stop for the day was the university in Liege. We examine the location for future needs as it is way too big to seen in one hour. I was glad to have many extra locations on my program. You never know when you need them!

Our journey started on time, we left about the midnight hour, so that we should arrive by time in Belgium.During last week the weather was not fantastic, but this day it was great! A sunny day and a good temperature for a day making photographs. The first location we visited was Chateau de Noisy. We drove immediately to this location. We had to find a safe parking place and a spot to get to the area.We easily got onto it and then we had to take a walk of almost 15 minutes to reach the castle without getting snatched by the propietor.Nevertheless we succeeded, the photcameras were unpacked nearly until we saw somebody. For a moment we were hiding in the shrubs, someone of us went out for investigation and noticed these people were other people, also coming for taking a look. We returned to the castle and we were ready to start.The first thing that got our attention was the large number of damages, we saw immediately that there should have been a lot of beauty to some time before.At first we took some photographs at the groundfloor and afterwards we went to the upper floor. Several floors were nevertheless very bad, some of them were complete gone! The little tower looked very enchanting for climbing up, but we didn't do that.After lunch we took photos outside, after that it was time to start our return trip.We got into the car and continued our travel to the next location. We were ready to go to the Cristallerie in Seraing. When we arrived we could get in without any problem. There was not much time left for us. Also this was a beautiful location! The lighting was great at that moment. There were a number of buildings we could get in, unfortunately we could not visit all of them, we got too less time left for doing this. Sometimes we will come back here, who knows?Tired but contented we started the last part of our return trip to Venlo....

woensdag 12 mei 2010

Early one Sunday morning we went to this location. The reason to go on that day was that the adjacent company is not manned at Sundays. This location is still fully intact: no Grafity and no vandalism. To enter you have to overcome several obstacles like two fences. Then you can enter a building. When you are in this building you have to climb through a broken window. After that you are able to get in. Ultimately it was not difficult. Once you're inside you will be overwhelmed. Especially with beautiful light. What you should keep in mind is the large amount of asbestos. We were well prepared with safety masks. Maybe we will go again sometime!

woensdag 28 april 2010

As I could not resist a third urbex trip in 2 weeks we made a stop at the Cristalleries Val St. Lambert on our way to the Ardennes. I could climb the fence at the front but that was too much in the open. So I followed the high brick wall around and found an easy entry at the back side. Crossing the bush I arrived at the old cristallerie. The only entrance there was climbing down in to a cellar. Just when I entered a pump started running very loud scarring the shit out of me. With a headlight on finding the way up out of here was easy. But I was less fortunate climbing out of the cellar again because my tripod dropped. Climbing back down was to dangerous. So before I could start taking pictures I had to find way to get my tripod back. With some wire and a cable I fished up my tripod. With a half our lost walking and fishing, and my wife waiting in the car I had to hurry. After some pictures I noticed that one leg of my tripod was broken of half. The next problem was that the beautiful atelier with the colored glasses and equipment was still not found. On the other side the building was still active.I took a change and walked carefully passed it into the direction of the other old buildings. And there was the atelier I came for. With the limited time left a real challenge. It is unbelievable that the old equipment and crystal glass is still in place. On my way back to the car I discovered a hole in the fence at the front. Despite the broken tripod this was another successful Urbex mission. But the next time I take the front entrance.

At home I called Provak (Manfrotto representative in Holland) for my spare part. Marcel explained to me that it was not possible to order these old parts. But he might have one in stock. Within one minute he found the spare part I'm looking for. "It's the last one" he said. And the best is that he sends it over for free. My tripod is ready for another ten years.

maandag 12 april 2010

It was the first Photo day of the season 2010 so we all were very eager to start shooting pictures. The first location for this day was the Kent School(I assumed for some time it was located in Kent but in fact it is only a 25minutes. drive from our home town). Standing in front of the gate we saw a car on the site driving towards us. We turned the car and parked on the othersite. It took some time before we found a place in the fence were we could enter. Closer to the buildings we saw a second car that seemed abandoned.We passed it and walked to the building with the church attached.Surprisingly the main door was open. But as soon as we entered we heard the sound of keys jingling and footsteps. We ran out as quick as we could butthe last person fell down and we got discovered by a young guy all dressed up like militarily. The place was a Air-soft haven and because we were friendly he did not call the police but showed us around instead. So we were lucky we got the change to take some pictures there even if it was for only one hour.Roel.

This picture is made in Germany,.It was a nice place to make pictures.It was our first trip this year and our second location off the day.The wetter was not that good that day but we enjoyed it.This picture is made by:Jacques Yasemin